Football | Harambee Stars

Oliech urges FKF to resolve Mariga row

Harambee Stars captain Dennis Oliech has urged Football Kenya Federation (FKF) to take steps to persuade MacDonald Mariga to make a return to the team for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

Mariga has failed to play for Stars since the Togo match last year after the federation failed to reimburse him for tickets used when travelling home for national team duty.

Oliech has offered to lead from the front saying he is willing to hold talks with FKF chairman Sam Nyamweya so that the issues pertaining to Mariga’s ticket refunds are sorted amicably to pave way for his return.

He also took issue with the national team’s kitting problems raised last week by goalkeeper Arnold Origi saying it was a shame to see players encounter such hard conditions and yet companies like Iverness had offered to kit the national team from the under 14 side to the senior national team.

“I have been so concerned with Mariga missing from the national team as he is a very important player considering we have crucial World cup qualifying matches. As the national team captain I have offered to arbitrate in this issue by asking Mariga to avail the air tickets used and I will personally sit down with the federation chairman to iron out the sticky issues of refunds amicably.”

“At this point we cannot pretend that it will be easy facing teams like Nigeria and that is why we need all our top players to be readily available. I believe Mariga loves his country Kenya and he might not be happy with the treatment he was given but all this can be resolved when everybody remains calm and sober and I am willing to be part of this process,” Oliech told supersport.com.

“I read Origi’s comments and they are basically the truth. The players were freezing in Tunisia as they did not have adequate uniforms and it’s important that such issues are sorted out before any match. A top company Iverness have offered to kit the national team for free and are only waiting to get the nod which is not coming since some people feel the offer should be accompanied by monetary gains.”